Carl Perkins

Carl Perkins will forever be linked to his 1956 classic, "Blue Suede Shoes," and well he should be. In one fell swoop, this Tennessee sharecropper's son gave voice to emerging language, symbols, and attitudes, capturing the spirit of rock & roll's first generation and of the '50s as well. The first song to become a hit on the pop, country, and R&B; charts simultaneously, it seemed to herald the start of an important career. But at the moment of his greatest triumph, Perkins found the rug pulled out from under him when he was seriously injured in a car wreck while traveling to New York to appear on The Perry Como Show. At the time of the accident "Blue Suede Shoes" was jockeying at the top of the chart with "Heartbreak Hotel," the first RCA single by Perkins' friend and former Sun labelmate Elvis Presley. A month later Presley released his own cover of "Blue Suede Shoes" and, although Perkins' original outsold Presley's, the song became identified with the King.

"Blue Suede Shoes" casts such an immense shadow that it nearly obscures the wealth of music Perkins recorded both during and since the Sun years. Moreover, Perkins overshadowed all the Sun artists as a picker; combining blues, country, and boogie, his forceful, economical lead style, unusual progressions and impeccable timing made a profound impression on succeeding generations of guitarists. Both Eric Clapton and George Harrison have pointed to Perkins as one of the players who influenced their styles.

As well, Perkins has carved out a solid history as a songwriter. The Beatles covered three of his songs -- "Matchbox," "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby," and "Honey Don't"; Patsy Cline had a hit with "So Wrong"; Johnny Cash had one of the biggest country singles of the '60s with "Daddy Sang Bass"; and in '91 Mark O'Connor's New Nashville Cats charted with an updated version of "Restless," and Dolly Parton scored with her tender "Silver and Gold," written by Perkins and his sons. When he gets down to looking at his life Perkins becomes a great writer: "Blue Suede Shoes" was inspired by an incident he witnessed at a dance, when a boy upbraided his date for stepping on his blue suede shoes. Even more dramatic are songs reflecting the habits and privations of the rural environment in which Perkins grew up. His first single, "Movie Magg" (issued on Sam Phillips' Flip label), is an account of dating mores in backwoods Tennessee; "That's Right" expresses a jealous man's feelings toward a woman whose infidelities are only imagined; "Dixie Fried," his greatest Sun side, is a dark recounting of the violent, whiskey-soaked nights Perkins observed in the honky-tonks where he plied his trade. In his post-Sun years Perkins has turned inward for material, producing sides notable for self-revelation and eloquence: "Just for You," "A Love I'll Never Win," "Someday, Somewhere, Someone Waits for Me."

Perkins and his brothers Jay and Clayton, along with drummer W. S. Holland, had been playing in the honky-tonks around Jackson, TN, when they signed to Sun in 1954. The Perkins brothers had grown up in Lake County, TN, where theirs was the only white family on a sharecropper's farm. From the black farmhands Carl learned to play blues guitar; from the radio on Saturday night, he learned of traditional country and bluegrass by way of the Grand Ole Opry. When the Perkins Brothers Band began playing dances around Lake County, Carl was already working out a more rhythmically driving style of music that was neither country nor blues, but had elements of both. Hearing Presley's "That's All Right (Mama)" on the radio in 1954 convinced Carl that Sun was the place to be. Indeed, Sam Phillips understood what Perkins was doing, but he already had Elvis doing the same thing, so after signing the Perkins brothers he directed them to country music. Heavily indebted to Hank Williams, Perkins delivered with songs such as "Honky Tonk Gal," "Turn Around," and "Let the Jukebox Keep on Playing." After Presley left Sun for RCA, Perkins was given the go-ahead to cut uptempo material. "Blue Suede Shoes" was the upshot.

After his wreck, Perkins made some of the best music of his life, but failed to approach the success of "Blue Suede Shoes." Along with Cash, he signed with Columbia in 1958. By this time Perkins was deep in the throes of alcoholism. Most of his Columbia efforts were tepid country affairs that met with little enthusiasm, although a couple showed some of the old spark. Signed to Decca in 1963, Perkins got it together long enough to make some startling, pure country records. A 10-year stint with Johnny Cash's revue was part of a regrouping process that saw Perkins kick his alcohol habit and regain his confidence. Signed to Mercury in 1973, he cut a brilliant country album, My Kind of Country, notable both for the honesty of its songs and the palpable feeling in Perkins' performances. When yet another generation of British rockers rediscovered rockability, Perkins responded with a first-rate return to his roots in Ol' Blue Suede's Back (1978).

Again, sustained success on record proved elusive, but Perkins, backed by a band that included his sons Stan and Greg, worked steadily through the '80s. Signed to the new Universal label in 1989, Perkins released Born to Rock, an album that comes down strong on his rockability heritage ("Born to Rock," "Charlene," "Don't Let Go") even as it attempts to establish a contemporary country foundation. It's hardly Perkins' strongest effort, and his vocals, particularly on the slower songs, sound forced at times.

Of the in-print recordings, Bear Family's five-CD Classic Carl Perkins offers all the Sun sides as well as Perkins' early Columbia and Decca recordings. It's pricey, but it sheds light on some years undocumented on other available releases. Jive After Five offers a broad sweep of post-Sun recordings; among its more important tracks are the solo guitar entry "Just Coastin'," from an album Perkins recorded with NRBQ, Boppin' the Blues (1970); "I'm in Love Again," from Ol' Blue Suede's Back; and three tracks from My Kind of Country. Both Up Through the Years and Original Sun Greatest Hits summarize the best of the Sun sides, with the former offering 24 tracks to the latter's 16. Being comprised of rare and previously unissued Sun masters otherwise available only on the Perkins box, Rounder's Honky Tonk Gal serves as a complementary disc to the Sun hits collections.

The Sun years are the only ones in Perkins' long career still well documented on CD. After leaving Sun, he made good records for a number of labels, including Columbia, Dollie, and Mercury, but those are available only in import collections. Rhino's Original Sun Greatest Hits, Collectables' two Perkins titles, and Varse Sarabande's The Complete Sun Singles are all worthwhile buys for the essential, best-known recordings. Collectables' Blue Suede Shoes: The Very Best of Carl Perkins gets extra credit for including the non-single, but highly inflammatory "Right String, Baby, Wrong Yo-Yo," a 1951 R&B; hit for Willie Perryman that the Perkins band absolutely scorched in a performance that must be heard to be believed. For the best of the off-sides, for lack of a better term, Rounder's Honky Tonk Gal is a must-have. Not only does this album contain "Right String, Baby, Wrong Yo-Yo," it also includes a red-hot Perkins original, "You Can't Make Love to Somebody," another powerhouse showcase for the entire band.

Those who want to check out the import sec-tions for Perkins releases are advised to start with Bear Family's The Classic Carl Perkins, a five-CD box set covering nearly everything Carl recorded for Sun and Columbia, supplemented by alternate takes (and some home recordings Carl made during the Sun years, the rarest of all Perkins recordings). Diehards are also advised to check cut-out bins for My Kind of Country, a 1973 masterpiece of intimate, autobiographical songwriting released by Mercury. A morbid, haunting masterpiece, produced by the estimable Jerry Kennedy, it's an unapologetic account of the demons that were stalking Carl as he battled alcoholism and struggled to keep his career and his family in one piece. (DAVID McGEE)

From the 2004 The New Rolling Stone Album Guide